North Pike and South Pike went down to the wire Tuesday in Region 7-4A girls basketball action at North Pike. Both teams entered the contest undefeated after four games each.
With North Pike leading 62-59 with 8.1 seconds left, South Pike drove the length of the court looking for the basket to send the game into overtime.
South Pike’s Breyuana Goode went around a defender and let her shot fly with only seconds left. Goode’s shot swished through the net, but Goode had clearly stepped across the 3-point line.
North Pike’s 62-61 victory put the Jaguars atop the region standings and also improved to 12-6 overall.
South Pike coach Janice Felder said Goode rushed the shot a bit too much.
“She just wanted to get a quick shot off,” Felder said. “It was just a slight miscalculation on her part.”
North Pike coach Lance Golmon said he was relieved to come away with the win.
“We barely survived out there,” Golmon said. “We missed way too many field goals. I told the girls if we had just made half the ones we missed, look how different the score might have been.”
North Pike entered the game shooting 75 percent from the free throw line, but made only 4 of 22 on Tuesday.
North Pike’s Aquarius Shaw hit a basket to give the Lady Jaguars their biggest lead of the game at 38-26 with 6:42 left in the third quarter.
The Eagles trailed 43-33 with 2:38 remaining in third, but began to eat away at the 10-point deficit.
“We didn’t pay attention to some of the details and that was some of the main issues for us,” Felder said. “We got killed on the boards. If we had boxed out better it might have been a totally different game”
She said North Pike’s Nicole Jefferson “killed us on the boards.”
Jefferson finished with 15 points, 13 rebounds and four blocked shots.
“When South Pike came down for that last shot, I was so nervous,” Jefferson said. “All I kept thinking was if she made the shot, that I had to grab a rebound and try to give us time for another shot.”
With 2:41 left in the game, Powell’s two free throws brought South Pike (16-6) to within 56-52.
On the next North Pike possession, North Pike’s Rickera Martin was left alone on the right wing and banked in a 3-point shot to give the Jags a 59-52 lead with 2:24 left.
The two teams traded blows, and Powell drove the length of the court before she was fouled with 17 seconds left. She made both shots to get her club to within 62-59.
Jamaya Carter led South Pike with 19 points and five rebounds. Powell had 13 points, while Goode had eight. Amber Harper had five rebounds and as many points.
For North Pike, Martin led all scorers with 20 points. McCray finished with 17 points.
North Pike visits Tylertown on Friday. South Pike hosts Purvis on Friday.
North Pike boys win, 61-57
Following a win at the buzzer for the North Pike girls, the Jaguar boys made it a sweep of the Eagles, winning 61-57.
North Pike coach Keith Russ said his club was helped by the return of junior Jalen Jackson, who missed the last two games because of a hamstring injury.
“I thought our entire team played physical the first half,” Russ said. “We had to make some adjustments at halftime. We had to scratch and claw to get this win against a good South Pike team.”
Jackson’s 20 points led all scorers.
South Pike coach Joe Taylor said it was a very disappointing loss for his club.
“We have improved so much since the season started,” Taylor said. “We have been taking steps to get better. Now today, I feel it sent us two steps backwards.”
South Pike (4-16, 0-5) went up 50-46 with 4:55 left in the game, but North Pike (9-9, 2-3) finished the game on a 15-7 run.
Desmond Cook finished with 16 points, eight rebounds and four assists for South Pike. Jarrod Green had 10 points and Monte Martin grabbed 19 rebounds.
